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This detailed Lacquer box was painted by Fedoskino artist Vicktor Kanevskiy. The composition is an interpretation of a canvas-on-oil painting called "Hunters Taking a Break". Painted in 1871 by Vasily Gregorievich Perov, it currently hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Vasily Perov (1834-1882) studied intermittently from 1846 to 1849 at the Art School of Alexander Stupin and during the 1850s at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under Sergey Zaryanko. The work of Pavel Fedotov, pictorial satire in the press and genre scenes by the Old Dutch masters and William Hogarth were the greatest formative influences on Perov. His early works combine detailed brushwork with anecdotal narrative and aim at criticizing social behavior. Within his paintings is a conflict between feelings of love and hatred, and between an intimate knowledge of the daily life of the people and an alienating irony. Perov's success as a genre painter reached its peak in the latter half of the 1860s. His compositions become more laconic and expressive; overcoming an undisciplined use of color, he achieved an impressive unity with an austere greyish-brown palette. His other works include Portrait of Dostoevsky, Village Burial, and Troika (that shows three young apprentices pulling a sled).
The three hunters depicted have found a nice hillside on which to relax, eat, have a drink, and most importantly tell a few stories. The moment captured here shows the oldest of the three animatedly telling a story so outrageous that the hunter in the middle can only scratch his head and laugh. But the young inexperienced hunter on the right listens with the utmost interest, naive to the embellishments and untruths the storyteller is adding to his tale. At least the hunters have had some success today--several game birds and a hare lie next to their rifles.
Many kinds of brushstrokes and techniques have been used here to create the necessary effect to bring this composition to life. The faces are detailed and reproduce the expressions of the original beautifully. The painting fills the entire surface of the lid, maintaining focus on the composition.
The composition is framed with a gold line. The sides of the box are decorated with two parallel lines painted in gold. The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The lid is hinged from the top of the composition, and the box rests flat. The box is signed with the artist's name, village and year (2015).